Real Food, Real Local, Real Good

Tomato starts in the high tunnel house

Vest Berries: Where Produce is Berry Good!
By Myra Morrison
Rick Vest developed a love for farming at an early age. During his teenage years, he worked on a large vegetable farm in the Cincinnati area. His own produce farm, Vest Berries in Stewart, Ohio, has approximately five cultivated acres. Rick grows a variety of produce including onions, corn, beets, beans, tomatoes, strawberries, rows of raspberries and blackberries, and nearly half an acre of sweet potatoes.
The weeks of rain have been challenging, and particularly damaging to Rick’s onion crop. “Produce farmers would rather have a drier season,” Rick explains. It is easy enough to turn on the irrigation drip lines…but there’s no stopping the rain!
Rick utilizes high tunnel houses to extend the growing season which starts in January and doesn’t wind down until December. The high tunnel houses remain in production year round. To get the most out of the season and maximize harvest, Rick puts in multiple plantings and keeps produce in staggered growth stages. Vest Berries brings produce to the Athens Farmers Market year-round, occasionally missing one month in the winter. Starting plants, hand planting, and harvesting all this produce results in long hours. “You prepare to be busy,” Rick says. “And I’m talking 50 hours a week 6 months of the year.” Any additional special projects around the house must be planned for the winter during the slower times in the produce season.
Strawberry season, from mid- May into June or July, is their busiest time of year. Rick, with the help of his wife Terry, step up to the challenge and put in 15 hours a day to get all the work done. In a few weeks, Rick plans to start 10,000 new strawberry plants.
In addition to bringing produce to the Athens Farmers Market, Vest Berries’ produce and berries can be found in the ingredients at, Casa, Kiser’s Rocky Boot Grill, Village Bakery, and Fluff. Rick is hoping to expand into school cafeterias in Hocking College and Federal Hocking Schools.